The politics of COVID-19: Differences between U.S. red and blue states in COVID-19 regulations and deaths

The study investigated infection variables and control strategies in 2020 and 2021 and their influence on COVID-19 deaths in the United States, with a particular focus on comparing red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) states. The analysis reviewed cumulative COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 by year, state political affiliation, and a priori latent factor groupings of mitigation strategies (lockdown days in 2020, mask mandate days, vaccination rates), social demographic variables (ethnicity, poverty rate), and biological variables (median age, obesity). Analyses first identified possible relationships between all assessed variables using K-means clustering for red, blue, and purple states. Then, a series of regression models were fit to assess the effects of mitigation strategies, social, and biological factors specifically on COVID-19 deaths in red and blue states. Results showed distinct differences in responding to COVID infections between red states to blue states, particularly the red states lessor adoption of mitigation factors leaving more sway on biological factors in predicting deaths. Whereas in blue states, where mitigation factors were more readily implemented, vaccinations had a more significant influence in reducing the probability of infections ending in death. Overall, study findings suggest politicalization of COVID-19 mitigation strategies played a role in death rates across the United States.

Immunoglobulin heavy chain locus of the rat: striking homology to mouse antibody genes

DNA encoding the rat diversity segment (D), joining segment (JH), and constant (C) region mu, gamma 2a, gamma 1, gamma 2b, epsilon and alpha of the Ig heavy chain has been isolated from a cosmid library. Restriction mapping allowed us to identify two gene clusters: D-JH-C mu and C gamma 1-C gamma 2b-C epsilon-C alpha in addition to a single C gamma 2a gene. Analysis of genomic DNA by Southern blotting permitted identification of the C gamma 2c gene and led to the proposal of the following gene order for the rat Ig heavy chain locus: D-JH-C mu-C delta-(C gamma 2c, C gamma 2a)-C gamma 1-C gamma 2b-C epsilon-C alpha. There is striking homology between the rat and mouse Ig heavy chain loci as regards gene order and distance between CH genes. Partial DNA sequencing confirms this homology and shows that exon sequences are more conserved than are intron sequences. One of the most conserved intron regions between rat and mouse is that spanning the Ig heavy chain enhancer (91% homology). However, the relationship between the different C gamma subclasses in rat differs from that in mouse. Comparison of the C gamma CH3 domains shows that the rat C gamma 2b gene is most homologous to mouse C gamma 2a/b, whereas the rat C gamma 1 and C gamma 2a genes, both very similar to each other, are most homologous to the mouse C gamma 1 gene.

Role of sulphydryl groups in T lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity

The role of thiols in T cell-mediated cytotoxicity was investigated by studying the thiols of the target cell and cytotoxic cell separately. Agents which protect the reduced thiols of the target cell inhibit their lysis by the cytotoxic T cells; thiol reactive reagents may be directly toxic to the target cell. The thiol groups of the effector cell are also important, since pre-treatment with thiol reactive reagents inhibits killing.

The mechanism of Fc-mediated interaction of eosinophils with immobilized immune complexes. II. Identification of two membrane proteins, modified by the interaction

Human peripheral blood eosinophils attach to and flatten down onto antibody-coated surfaces and subsequently degranulate. An antibody-coated surface was prepared by treating a layer of agar, containing tetanus toxoid antigen and eosinophil chemotactic factor (ECF), with human anti-tetanus immunoglobin. Changes in eosinophil surface proteins during attachment to the antibody-coated agar layer were detected by lactoperoxidase catalysed iodination. Purified eosinophils were pre-treated with unlabelled iodide, lactoperoxidase and hydrogen peroxide to block pre-existing accessible tyrosine residues on the cell surface. They were then allowed to interact with the agar layer, and subsequently treated with lactoperoxidase and 125I-labelled iodide to label newly accessible surface proteins. Separation of the radioactive proteins by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that, while incubation of the cells in suspension restored the major proteins to the cell surface, interaction with the antibody-coated agar layer caused the appearance of additional proteins of apparent molecular weight 55K, 30K, 28K and 18K. The 55K, 28K and 18K proteins were greatly reduced when antibody was absent, but the 55K protein was distinguishable from immunoglobulin G (IgG) heavy chain, since it could be detected in low amounts even in the absence of antibody. It was found in purified plasma membranes and it could be separated from IgG heavy chain by iso-electric focusing. The possibility is discussed that this protein is either linked to the receptor for the Fc portion of IgG, or that it is itself the receptor. The 18K protein required both antibody and ECF for maximum expression, but was seen in limited amounts with ECF alone. Possibly it is concerned with an ECF-mediated recognition of IgG. Unlike the 55K protein, it binds concanavalin A. Plasma membranes were prepared from eosinophils by lysis in borate, followed by purification on a glass-bead column. Both the 55K and the 18K proteins were found to be major components of the eosinophil membrane.